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Sign Painters Get Their Close-Ups as Masters of Hand-Brushed Design

In the modern age of Adobe Illustrator and vinyl printers, it's easy to forget that not too long ago, most storefronts, banners and billboards were painstakingly hand-lettered, one at a time, by artisans armed only with brush, paint and centuries-old principals of information design. Before standardized vinyl cut-outs decimated the industry, professional sign painters roamed the earth in such large numbers they had their own union, their own trade schools and even their own bars.

To survey the current sign-painting landscape, Faythe and Macon trekked the country for 18 months, relying primarily on old-fashioned word of mouth to track down veteran practitioners and new-generation sign painters in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Cincinnati, Denver and elsewhere.

Levine, author of the 2008 book Hand Made Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft and Design, initially found inspiration in the graffiti artists she'd known in Minneapolis who stripped away the so-called "gingerbread crap" from their lettering styles after they became entranced with a local sign painter who served as their mentor. Levine says, "The thing I've learned is that anybody can pick up a brush or pen and write an alphabet and make a sign, but to be a really good sign painter takes a lot of time. It's not the equivalent of punk rock."

Macon adds, "Graffiti is one of several gateways that the young crowd has gotten into sign painting. Many of them who grew up on computers have now returned to these hand-made elements they can incorporate into the design work."

Levine and Macon hope their project, which also includes a 2013 documentary-in-progress, spurs a renaissance in hand-crafted signage. "There is a romance to sign painting because of the tradition and the physical labor, which attracts people of our generation," Macon says. "But a lot of sign painters we spoke to emphasized this is not throwback or retro or old-timey."

Helping to spark the revival is New York City's Colossal Media, whose hand-painted murals have become a hipster ad platform of choice. "It looks better than a big vinyl banner that flaps in the wind, and tears, and falls apart and fades. For these guys, the reason to paint the sign is, it looks better, it lasts longer, and it means you're for real."

Check the gallery for a sampling of work and commentary by some of America's finest commercial artists featured in the Sign Painters book that hits bookstores on Nov. 2.

Above: Greetings From TexasAustin sign painter Norma Jeanne Maloney says, "Even as a small child I had a fascination with typography, which was completely abnormal," she says. "As a teenager I’d draw ornate album covers, like Fleetwood Mac and Bob Seger. I was in love with type."

Maloney turned out to be the only student who showed up for a class conducted by old-school sign painter Mike Stevens. When Stevens died, his daughter showed her one of his journal entries. “This girl is going to be a great sign painter,” he wrote.

"I’d been ready to give it up, thinking it was never meant to be, since I just kept hitting obstacles," Maloney comments. "That was a powerful moment."

Brick Wall, Hard SellSeattle sign painter Sean Barber, who worked previously as a carpenter and boat builder, uses chisel-tipped lettering quills to create his graphics. As excerpted from the Sign Painters book, Barber says, "So many stores have vinyl signs that now entire blocks look the same. Many business owners want to slap up some garbage and still have a bunch of people show up. It just doesn’t work that way. If you have a good-looking storefront and you take pride in it, you’ll attract more customers. I think people’s appreciation [of hand-painted sings] is growing; business owners see them and want them. They can feel the power of a hand-painted sign."

Go Team GoNew Yorker Stephen Powers comes from a graffiti background. He says, "Certain techniques and ways of painting I learned from over one hundred years of sign painting tradition. What’s really cool is that if you follow every known law in the sign game, you’ll at least learn how to do a sign correctly. You can’t really lie; maybe you can cheat a little bit, but you have to tell the truth. For me, sign painting is doing something that graffiti never could: it’s impacting people’s lives on a monumental scale."

The Medium is the MessageMark Oatis, who teams with his wife Rose on Denver-area projects, studied five years at the Union Apprentice Sign Painting Course before joining forces with other painters. "We started this little club," he says. "One night we’d work on gold leaf, another evening we’d bring in somebody who was very skilled at show cards. We did this informally for about six or seven years. Sometimes five people would show up and sometimes twenty. Earl Vehill coined a name for us, “Letterheads."

High-Wire ActMark Oatis hopes the Letterhead project sustains old-school traditions. He says, "We began communicating through articles in magazines, letters, and by phone since it was pre-internet. The Letterheads connected people from around the country, and that’s how it began to grow. There are still Letterhead meet-ups that reflect our first get-togethers in Colorado around the world to this day."

Making an Indelible ImpressionWashington state sign painter Ira Coyne says "The businesses that I've developed good relationships with understand how important it is to look different from everybody else. If you go to a cookie cutter sign company that's going to print out something from the computer, with all the R's looking exactly the same, it just won't have as much character."

Storefronts on ParadeJeff Canham studied graphic design at the University of Oregon, worked at a magazine, then got into sign painting when he moved to San Francisco. "A friend of mine was opening up a new store and needed a sign made, so he went to New Bohemia Signs, and I went with him. I loved what they were doing and asked how I could get involved. They told me to apply for an apprenticeship, and that’s how it started."

Power of Suggestion
Sign painter Canham integrated old-school craftsmanship into his repertoire of digital tricks. "At the time I went to school they were teaching all the traditional means of graphic design, as well as how to do everything on the computer. I was lucky in that sense."

Carnival TimeJosh Luke, who runs Best Dressed Signs in Boston with his wife Meredith, formed a group called the Pre-Vinylite Society to celebrate the craft of old-school signage. "Sign painting is experiencing a comeback," he says. "I’ve been a sign painter for less than ten years, but in the last two or three years I’ve noticed a much higher demand for hand-painted signs. I see sign painting as a way to positively affect the visual landscape of my city."

Cocktails, Anyone?Ohio sign painter Keith Knecht learned his craft from a hard-driving mentor. "For years I couldn’t get a sign painter in the city of Toledo to show or tell me anything," Knecht says. "It really was a closed fraternity. I was lousy and slow, and I couldn’t do the really good jobs to get the good money. Then I met Burt Mayer. He knew more about sign painting than any living human. He was a grumpy, grouchy old guy—just like the ones you hear about. He was a tough taskmaster. On more than several occasions I wanted the satisfaction of busting him one."

Personality to Spare Minneapolis artisan Phil Vandervaart likes to blend humor and information in his work. "I tend to push everything to the comical because it’s a sign, not fine art. It’s meant to convey information and be attractive."

Keeping It SimplePhil Vandervaart learned his craft from an older generation of sign painters. "I’m fifty-eight, and when I started in my twenties I had access to a lot of the old-timers who are now gone. They were really brutal. Once, after watching me paint a sign, one of them said, 'I want you to come back here.' He walked me about thirty feet back and said, 'Tell me why your sign looks like crap.' At first I was offended, but then I really appreciated his feedback and I took it to heart."

Painting the Town RedNew Yorkers Paul Lindahl and Adrian Moeller started Colossal Media in 2004 and quickly earned a following in New York City for their Sky High Murals projects. "We have a lot of walls in neighborhoods at street level, and our painters spend half the day just talking to people. We get a lot of appreciation from the public. Now advertisers want the hand paint, they want to draw the public. That’s what advertising is about. It’s getting to that viewer and having people stop to look."